Local share prices advance
Taiwanese share prices closed up 0.25 percent yesterday after profit-taking offset early gains on futures-driven buying, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 19.12 points to 7,668.40 on turnover of NT$105.40 billion (US$3.26 billion).
The market opened 0.68 percent higher and hit an intra-day high of 7,751.68, led by the financial sector, before investors took advantage of recent gains, dealers said.
Early buying focused on financials, dealers said.
“Many stocks have appeared expensive after recent significant gains,” Capital Securities (群益證券) analyst Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) said.
“It was nothing unusual that any upside led to immediate profit-taking,” Capital Securities (群益證券) analyst Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) Chen said.
Since market liquidity is high, rotational buying is expected to remain active over the next few sessions, while profit taking will continue to cap the gains, Chen said.
Green Energy swings to profit
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能), the nation’s biggest solar wafer maker, posted a profit last quarter of NT$105 million (US$3.24 million) as prices rose on recovering demand.
That is a big improvement from losses of NT$160 million in the second quarter, a company statement said.
Gross margin improved to 8.76 percent in the July-September period from minus 12.13 percent in the second quarter, it said.
On an annual basis, however, the third quarter earnings plunged about 70 percent from NT$348 million earned in the third quarter of last year, it said.
During the first three quarters, Green Energy eked out NT$7 million in net income, compared with NT$1.16 billion earned in the same period last year.
HTC unveils ‘You’ ad campaign
HTC Corp (宏達電), a leading maker of smartphones running on Microsoft Corp’s Windows Mobile and Google Inc’s Android platforms, yesterday unveiled a global advertising campaign that is based on the company’s new “Quietly Brilliant” brand positioning.
As HTC’s first global advertising campaign, the “You” campaign will be rolled out across 20 countries in the coming weeks and will feature the tagline: “You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.”
The “You” campaign is focused on driving broad, global visibility and understanding of HTC’s unique brand promise — that it’s all about the customer, and not the device.
Kirin to close two breweries
Kirin Holdings Co, the Japanese brewer in talks to merge with Suntory Holdings Ltd, will end production at two domestic breweries as beer sales decline.
The Tochigi and Hokuriku plants will close after the peak production period next year, Kirin said in a statement yesterday.
Beer consumption in Japan has fallen as the nation’s population ages and younger consumers switch to wine and other beverages.
Shipments by Japanese brewers fell 2.4 percent to 345 million cases in the nine months to last month, the lowest level for the period since records began in 1992.
Kirin and Suntory aim to reach an agreement on a merger as early as this year as the beverage makers seek to accelerate expansion overseas.
NT dollar makes small gain
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday slightly advanced by NT$0.004 to close at NT$32.394 against the US greenback on turnover of US$510 million.
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